Between the Lines

The first two lines are always the best. I wish someone had told me that up front, though I doubt it would have stopped me. The anticipation that comes from seeking a connection, picking up, and making your way home with a little bag of white gold in your pocket is exhilarating. The nervous energy that accompanies laying out a bit of white powder and making two nice even lines is a high of its own. Cutting up a plastic straw, or tying a rubber band around a dollar bill to ensure you have a nice tight delivery system to the nose, is the last step. There is a wind-up of excitement as you cover one nostril and breathe in half a line with the other. You sniff and tilt your head back, and you’re off to the races in a binge that will bring you to heaven, hell, and back. Taking in the rest of the line with the other nostril elevates you to that elusive high you have been waiting for. At once, you are both highly energized and relaxed into relief. All of your troubles melt away, and at once you feel as though you are capable of anything. Diving right into the second line, the wave of euphoria is so extraordinary that your fate is sealed: You will continue to repeat this cycle until there is nothing left.

George Carlin wisely quipped, “What does cocaine make you feel like? It makes you feel like doing more cocaine!” The hours that follow those first two lines are an exercise in wasted potential. Although you may feel like being creative or productive, you are reduced to a slave of the drug. No music is just right for the occasion, no reading material interesting enough, and any creative venture you may undertake will always be second to the maintenance of your desire for more cocaine. Those first two lines might make you happy for an hour, but as the high starts to wane, it becomes necessary to take in more and more of the drug in shorter intervals of time. This has gotten me into trouble numerous times.

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Read the rest of Hugh Stone’s manic ramble in SN8:Nightmoon, coming out November 12th.